Activated Sludge Ozonation to Reduce Sludge Production in MBR

The total experimental period was divided into two stages. At the first stage, a series of batch studies were carried out to get an understanding of the effect of ozonation on sludge properties. At the following stages, three MBRs with different amounts of activated sludge to be ozonated were run in parallel for a long period to evaluate the influence of sludge ozonation on sludge yield and permeate quality. Through batch study, it was found that ozone could disrupt the cell walls and caused the release of plasm from the cells, then the amounts of soluble organics in the solution increased with ozonation time. With the rise of soluble organics, the amount of soluble organics to be mineralized increased as well, which would reduce the soluble organics content. For the counteraction between these two aspects, a pseudo-balance could be achieved, and soluble organics would vary in a limited range. Sludge ozonation also increased the contents of nitrogen and phosphorus in the solution. In addition, ozonation was effective in improving sludge settling property. On the basis of batch study, a suitable ozone dosage of 0.16 kgO3/kgMLSS was determined. Three systems were run in parallel for a total period of 39 days, it was demonstrated that a part of activated sludge ozonation could reduce sludge production significantly, and biological performance of mineralization and nitrification would not be inhibited due to sludge ozonation. Experimental results proved that the combination of ozonation unit with MBR unit could achieve an excellent quality of permeate as well as a small quantity of sludge production, and economic analysis indicated that an additional ozonation operating cost for treatment of both wastewater and sludge was only 0.096Yuan (US GA1E7 0.011,5)/m~3 wastewater.